Prime Minister of Georgia on a two day visit to Lithuania
Updated 2010-09-14
An official Georgian delegation led by Prime Minister Nika Gilauri is to visit Lithuania on 2-3 September. “This is a first visit by a Georgian Prime Minister in 16 years since re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Georgia and Lithuania”, said Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.
Top Lithuanian leaders and officials have been consistently pursuing a policy of strong support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and its aspirations for the Euro-Atlantic integration. “Lithuania’s support for the fundamental values remains firm and steadfast. This visit of the Georgian delegation led by the Prime Minister shows that we have been moving towards closer economic ties through our intense political cooperation”, said Prime Minister Kubilius.
The meetings with Georgian Prime Minister Gilauri will discuss issues of energy security, bilateral trade and economic cooperation, as well as prospects for bilateral investment development. Lithuania is going to propose Georgia to more actively take advantage of the opportunities offered by the shuttle container train “Viking”, and to cooperate in the development of international transport and energy corridors. Discussions will also focus on the current development cooperation projects and cooperation in the areas of defence, customs, tourism, agriculture, etc.
According to Statistics Lithuania, Georgia ranked 52 in terms of trade turnover, and was 42 and 51 in terms of exports and imports respectively among 169 foreign trade partners of Lithuania in the first six months of 2010. Turnover of goods with Georgia rose by 51.8% against the same period in 2009. Georgian direct investments in Lithuania totalled 8.2 million Litas on 1 April 2010, while Lithuanian direct investments in Georgia made up 35.2 million Litas.
In 2010, 16 development cooperation projects worth 657,000 Litas are to be implemented in Georgia. In 2009, 22 projects worth 804,000 Litas were implemented in the areas of regional cooperation and consolidation, children’s rights, health care, and democratic society.
On 3 September a meeting between Georgian and Lithuanian business community representatives is to take place at the Office of the Government. During the meeting, the Prime Minister of Georgia is going to deliver a presentation “Business Opportunities in Georgia”.
